People v. Sclafani

In People v. Sclafani, 132 Mich App 268; 347 NW2d 30 (1984), the Court determined that the defendant's trial counsel performed deficiently when advising the defendant to undergo a polygraph exam. Id. at 271-272. In Sclafani, the Court noted that "in most instances, a defense attorney's advice regarding the taking of a polygraph examination is a matter of trial strategy." Id. at 271. However, the defendant's counsel in that case admitted that he never would have advised his client to take the examination, if he had realized the potential use of defendant's statements for impeachment at trial. Id. at 272. Therefore, the defense counsel's advice in that case "was based not on trial strategy, but on a clear misunderstanding of the police procedures associated with the administration of polygraph examinations and with the subsequent use of the examination results." Id.